


good company

by drashian



Series: can't we just wait together [1]
Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Alternate Universe, Coming Out, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Trans Character, Transgender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 16:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4399079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drashian/pseuds/drashian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David's cabin smelled heavily like charcoal and dog fur, cigarette smoke and pine trees.</p>
            </blockquote>





	good company

24 hours ago, Hal wouldn’t have imagined himself still alive. But here he was, legs tucked under himself on a surprisingly comfortable couch, blankets wrapped around him, two overly friendly huskies piled on his lap and three more gathered around him on the couch and floor. In the next room, the world’s greatest living soldier was swearing under his breath at a half-busted coffee machine and frying eggs for the both of them. Hal absently scratched behind one of the dogs’ ears—Riley, he remembered, Snake had introduced all of them and Riley had bright blue eyes and a white face—and considered how on Earth his life had gotten to this point. He wasn’t dead, at least, but now… Well, he was definitely unemployed, to start off with. And good luck ever finding a job again. Would he be hunted down now? That would almost be awesome, if it wasn’t his _literal life_ on the line now.

Snake rounded the couch, depositing a plate in Hal’s lap and a mug in his outstretched hands. With a quick command, the dogs jumped off the couch. Snake sat in a well-worn chair opposite the couch. The dogs milled around the room for a minute, eyes on the plates, before settling down, mostly around Snake’s feet.

The two of them ate in silence for a while. Hal dipped slightly burned toast into the yolks eagerly. It had been quite a long time since there’d been real food at Shadow Moses.

As he finished the last of the eggs, Snake shifted his weight and said, “So, Hayley.”

Right. That.

Hal swallowed loudly, suppressing a choke. “Uh, yeah.” Two syllables and his voice was already cracking. Brilliant.

“Any idea what you’re going to do now?” Snake put his plate on the floor, letting the dogs at the scraps.

Hal shook his head, cupping his hands around the coffee mug. He took a sip. Very Irish, he noted.

“I suspect now that mess is over, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other. It’s more than likely you’ll never be able to go back to a normal life. I don’t know who else we can trust anymore.”

“I should be thankful I’ve at least got good company.”

“Good company and easy on the eyes.”

Oh God, Hal’s face was probably bright red. “Are you sure you’re not talking about yourself?”

David smirked. “You can stay here while we figure things out. On the couch, I mean, unless you’re inclined otherwise.”

Hal grinned into his mug and tried not to laugh.

“Something funny?”

“It’s just, I wouldn’t have expected to be staying with the ‘legendary Solid Snake’.”

“I could do without people calling me that for a while.”

“David, then?” Hal’s hands trembled. Calling him by his first name, a name God knows how many people knew…

David nodded. “It’s what a friend would call me.” _If I had friends_ , went unsaid.

“Then, uh, I should… My friends call me Hal.” Oh. Shit, Hal, learn to get a speech filter.

“Hal and Dave, huh…” David snorted. Hal felt himself blush, then laughed.

They both sipped their coffee at the same time.

Hal asked about the dogs, about sledding, and David explained the sport enthusiastically. His house was small, but not unlivable—Hal was pretty sure the couch was a futon and figured he would sleep there. The fireplace burned low, but there was plenty of firewood piled next to it and outside to last. The kitchen was small, cramped, but stocked full. A soldier’s instincts had filled it with mostly non-perishables and quick fixes. Everything felt second- or third-hand, cloth on the furniture worn soft from use, the rugs over the wooden floor clean but threadbare. It smelled heavily like charcoal and dog fur, cigarette smoke and pine trees.

David stood and brought out the coffee pot, filling up both of their mugs. Hal waved away the whiskey and David gave himself a generous shot. He sat in the chair again, lighting a cigarette and then letting his hand dangle and idly scratch at Riley’s ear. Hal wrinkled his nose but didn’t say anything; it wasn’t his house. David looked amused but didn’t mention it.

“What about you? What do you do when you’re not building nuclear weapons?” Hal scowled, but David chuckled. “I’m teasing. And cartoons, I know you watch those.”

Hal chewed his lip. “Between my job and anime, not a whole lot…. I hack corporations for fun and profit, sometimes.”

David laughed. His smile looked so natural on his face, perfectly white and even teeth showing, and Hal had a sudden resentment for every single person that had made that smile so rare.

“It’s a living,” Hal commented, shrugging, drinking from his coffee mug for a long moment. “My job is—was—pretty lucrative, but times have been tough before.”

“I imagine doubly so for a female scientist.”

Hal bit his tongue to keep his face from reacting. He nodded. The silence dragged between them, the fire popped, a dog scratched his collar and the jingling of his tags filled the room.

“If I said something wrong, you can tell me,” David said. He just had to notice, he just had to be so goddamn _nice_ that Hal was actually considering telling him. He probably had all kinds of fucked up opinions and he was from the fucking military, for God’s sake, he was the worst person to talk about this stuff to ever, but Hal’s traitorous mouth was opening—

“It’s just, that word, um. I don’t really…” Super coherent. Good job.

“Scientist? …Female?” David frowned.

“Female. I… That is, I’m not…” Hal shook his head, cradling the coffee mug between his knees and pulling a blanket over his face. “Ignore me,” he said, muffled.

David snorted, but didn’t say anything for a while. Hal could just hear the inhale as he took a drag off his cigarette. “You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to, you know.”

Christ, a matter of minutes ago Hal was getting hit on, having a nice, normal conversation about dog sledding, and here he was with a blanket over his face wondering if a genetically engineered supersoldier had ever heard of preferred gender pronouns.

Slowly, he uncovered his face, painfully aware of how warm it was. “I’m not a… female… I mean.” He took a slow breath. “I don’t identify as a woman.”

“Alright.” David just nodded, putting his cigarette butt out in the ashtray on the coffee table.

“Is there… I mean, do you understand what I’m saying?”

“What do you want me to call you?”

“A man. He pronouns, masculine… you know.” Of course while he said this his voice had to crack increasingly higher.

“And the name Hal?”

Hal nodded.

“Okay.”

They both stared at each other for a moment until Hal burst out laughing. David looked awkward but he couldn’t hold it in, his belly shaking, bubbling up through his mouth unstoppable.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, choking the laughter down. “It’s just… that’s it. ‘Okay.’ Don’t get me wrong, it’s good! But I was really psyching myself up for something else here.”

“I figured you’re sick of answering questions about it.”

Hal giggled nervously. “That’s true. If you ever… I mean, if you do want to. I’m here.”

David nodded. "Sure. But right now? I'm planning on sleeping for the next twelve hours." He stood, carefully stepping around the dogs sprawled across his living room. "You can have the futon, unless you'd still rather bunk with me."

Hal bit his tongue to keep from squeaking; he felt himself flush deeply. "Th-that's..." he managed, and David laughed as he disappeared into his bedroom. Desire twisted at the base of Hal's gut, a brief, fantastic daydream of following David flashing through his mind. The implications of David’s continued flirtation were not lost on Hal.

The moment passed and in seconds the cabin was swallowed into heavy silence. The snow outside and the upholstery inside muffled all sounds of life, so even though maybe half of David’s pack was still lounging in the living room with him, if Hal closed his eyes, all felt dead and frozen. Cautiously he changed into the spare clothes David had gotten out for him hours earlier, then unfolded the futon.

The tears came unbidden seconds after extinguishing the light and crawling under the blankets.

Through the overwhelming weight of emotions, Hal wondered how David did it. Lived in this world every day. He was used to war in an abstract way; he designed weapons and knew their uses. But death was ugly, ugly and cold, and he had seen more than enough of it to last a lifetime. If his estimations were right, this was only the beginning.

One dog, then two, jumped onto the futon. He laughed a bit hysterically, petting them as they pushed for his affection. Eventually, they settled, one curling next to his chest, the other on top of his legs. Maybe this was how David lived with himself, he thought suddenly, as his eyelids closed heavily and strange and horrifying dreams took him.

**Author's Note:**

> Once upon a time several years ago I had the idea for an mgs au where Hal didn't want to risk his job by medically transitioning so he didn't pass as cis during Shadow Moses and he had to tell THE LEGENDARY SOLID SNAKE that he was trans. This is that fic, finally come to life. Maybe I'll continue it one day, but you can easily imagine for yourself the adorable trajectory of Hal starting to physically transition on the run with Philanthropy, David being nonchalantly queer, and eventual kissing.
> 
> you can find me on tumblr at [vulcanders](http://vulcanders.tumblr.com).


End file.
